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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Burt Prelutsky is still a stupid moron

Look what arrived in today's mail:

"That has changed, as you may have noticed. And I lay a great deal of the blame at the feet of my fellow Jews. When it comes to pushing the multicultural, anti-Christian agenda, you find Jewish judges, Jewish journalists and the largely Jewish funded ACLU at the forefront."

Let me see if I have this straight: The Jews were able to maintain the sanctity of Yom Kippur and half-a-dozen other holidays in Europe, where there was organized oppression and persecution, yet in America, where Christians own the Presidency and the Congress, they can't keep Christmas holy, and that's our fault?

See if after the jumpTHE CONSERVATIVE CASE FOR ASSIMILATION
by DovBear | 8:02 AM
December 17, 2004In a column entitled "The Jewish Grinch Who Stole Christmas" Burt Prelutsky, a Jew himself he says, complains about other Jews who don't treat Christmas with the proper respect and adoration it deserves.

What follows is the fisking Prelutsky deserves:

I never thought I'd live to see the day that Christmas would become a dirty word.

Probably because you don't daven. The rest of us, in the Alaynu, and elsewhere, pray three times daily, for Christmas and Christianity to disappear.You think it hasn't? Then why is it that people are being prevented from saying it in polite society for fear it will offend? Being prevented? Let's look at your examples:

Schools are being forced to replace "Christmas vacation" with "winter break" in their printed schedules.

Yes, because schools are public institutions. Why should a school that belongs to everyone, exclude students who don't celebrate Christmas?

At Macy's, the word is verboten even though they've made untold millions of dollars from their sympathetic portrayal in the Christmas classic, "Miracle on 34th Street."

Macy's does anything it wants. Macy's is a private company. I thought you uber-Conservative types believed in thefree market?A major postal delivery service has not only made their drivers doff their Santa caps, but ordered them not to decorate their trucks with Christmas wreaths. Private postal delivery services also get to do whatever they like. Remember: you're a Conservative. You're supposed to like it when private companies proceed with little or no interference from the government.

Although it seems a long time ago, it really wasn't, that people who came here from other places made every attempt to fit in. Assimilation wasn't a threat to anyone – it was what the Statue of Liberty represented.

Are you arguing that Jews ought to assimilate? Is that why you think Christmas is so neat? Because it encourages Jews to lose their distinctiveness? Earth to frum Jews: Liberals are our enemy??That has changed, you may have noticed. And I blame my fellow Jews. When it comes to pushing the multicultural, anti-Christian agenda, you find Jewish judges, Jewish journalists, and the American Civil Liberties Union, at the forefront.

Gee whiz, Burt. If you were a liberal, it would be ok for me to call you a self-hating Jew, right? So what's the convention when the person dissing Jews is a conservative? Is it still ok to hurl the "self-hating Jew" epitaph, or is there another phrase, I should use instead? Oh, and the "anti-Christian agenda" is right there in the Torah.Being Jewish, I should report, Christmas was never celebrated by my family. But what was there not to like about the holiday?

Um... it celebrates a lie? It glorifies a faith and a culture that's caused untold Jewish suffering? The music sucks?The Jews voice no concern when a Bill Clinton or a John Kerry makes a big production out of showing up at black Baptist churches or posing with Rev. Jesse Jackson because they understand that's just politics. They only object to politicians attending church for religious reasons. Well, this Jew only objects when politicians utter inanities in the name of religion. That happens very often when the religion is false, as in the case of Christianity, but what can you do?My fellow Jews, who often have the survival of Israel heading the list of their concerns when it comes to electing a president, only gave 26 percent of their vote to Bush, even though he is clearly the most pro-Israel president we've ever had in the Oval Office.

B.S

You may have noticed, though, that the ACLU is highly selective when it comes to religious intolerance. The same group of self-righteous shysters who, at the drop of a "Merry Christmas" will slap you with an injunction, will fight for the right of an American Indian to ingest peyote and a devout Islamic woman to be veiled on her driver's license.

Apples and oranges. And, because you know better, it is a dishonest argument besides. The ACLU only objects when it is government sponsoring the Merry Christmas, and you can be sure injunctions would follow if government were sponsoring the peyote or the veil. Private people can say Merry Christmas all they want. In fact, you just wrote a whole column about it. Did you receive a summons? Get slapped with an injunction? I doubt it.I am getting the idea that too many Jews won't be happy until they pull off their own version of the Spanish Inquisition, forcing Christians to either deny their faith and convert to agnosticism or suffer the consequences.Well, yes. That's the Jewish view, though we're content to let Moshiach handle the dirty details.

I should point out that many of these people abhor Judaism every bit as much as they do Christianity.

Not me. I adore Judaism. I daven three times daily, and am kovea itim, etc. That's why I object to Christianity. Not because I am a multi-culturtalist, but because I pay attention to the prayers and to the Torah subjects I study.

I say it behooves those of us who don't accept Jesus Christ as our savior to show some gratitude to those who do, and to start respecting the values and traditions of the overwhelming majority of our fellow citizens, just as we keep insisting that they respect ours.

It is not in me to respect falsehoods. Sorry. Can't do it. If you had an ounce of intellectual integrity, you'd stop apologizing for Christianity, too.

If it relates to Jews, Judaism, holidays, Midrash,Torah, halacha or anything similar, I probably have a post on it. And if I have a post on it, I probably have a good comment thread with great reader-provided information, too.

Try a search and see for yourself. If you can't find what you're looking for ask me.

Quotes

רֹאשׁ דְּבָרְךָ אֱמֶת קוֹרֵא מֵרֹאשׁ דּוֹר וָדוֹר עַם דּוֹרֶשְׁךָ דְּרֹשׁ
Your chief word is "truth"; You've called it out since the beginning. In each generation people interpret You [for themselves] and find [their own] meaning.

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd. -Flannery O'Connor

“When in the afterglow of religious insight I can see a way that is good for all humans as it is for me—I will know it is His way.” - R. Abraham Joshua Heschel

I don't accept at all the quite popular argument that the press is responsible for the monarchy's recent troubles. The monarchy's responsible for the monarchy's recent troubles. To blame the press is the old thing of blaming the messenger for the message. -Anthony Holden

Said behind my back

"...he's trying to show that there are other facets to Orthodox Judaism. That we don't all think one way and vote one way. And he's occasionally entertaining when he's not being mean-spirited" [PsychoToddler]"

"He's witty. He's funny. He appreciates the ridiculous in life, and has no qualms about telling you when he thinks that you're being a moron" [Cara]

" I'm pretty sure [DovBear] is a really great guy who just wants to be able to ask questions and talk about things without the fear of someone claiming he's off the derech or on his way there." [Chaviva]